• Login
    View Item 
    •   Home
    • Massey Documents by Type
    • Theses and Dissertations
    • View Item
    •   Home
    • Massey Documents by Type
    • Theses and Dissertations
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Autonomous anthropomorphic robotic arm to monitor plant growth in a laboratory : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters in Engineering at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

    Icon
    View/Open Full Text
    02_whole.pdf (4.002Mb)
    01_front.pdf (186.6Kb)
    Export to EndNote
    Abstract
    An autonomous anthropomorphic robotic arm was designed, fabricated and programmed for monitoring of plant tissue grown in a modified in vitro clonal plant propagation system being developed by The New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research. The custom fabricated aluminium robotic arm uses a vertical linear ball shaft and high speed stepper motors to provide arm joints movements enabling the arm to swivel 180 degrees horizontally. Sensors located at the end of the arm are used to monitor plant growth and the immediate growing environment. This includes a compact colour zoom camera on a pan and tilt mount for image capturing, red, green and blue (RGB) colour sensors to monitor leaf colour as well as temperature, relative humidity and carbon dioxide sensors. The robotic arm is capable of reaching over multiple trays (600mm x 600mm) of plantlets. Captured plant tissue images are processed using innovative algorithms to determine tissue or whole plant growth rates over specified time periods. Leaf colour sensors provide information on tissue health status when compared to predetermined optimum values. Custom software fully automates the operation of the arm and the data capture, allowing the arm to return to specified sites (i.e. individual plantlets) at set time intervals to identify subtle changes in growth rates and leaf colour. This allows plant nutrient levels and the immediate environment to be regularly adjusted in response to continuous sensing resulting in optimised rapid growth with minimal human input.
    Date
    2011
    Author
    Seelye, Mark
    Seelye, Mark
    Rights
    The Author
    Publisher
    Massey University
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/10179/2857
    Collections
    • Theses and Dissertations
    Metadata
    Show full item record

    Copyright © Massey University
    | Contact Us | Feedback | Copyright Take Down Request | Massey University Privacy Statement
    DSpace software copyright © Duraspace
    v5.7-2020.1-beta1
     

     

    Tweets by @Massey_Research
    Information PagesContent PolicyDepositing content to MROCopyright and Access InformationDeposit LicenseDeposit License SummaryTheses FAQFile FormatsDoctoral Thesis Deposit

    Browse

    All of MROCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjects

    My Account

    LoginRegister

    Statistics

    View Usage Statistics

    Copyright © Massey University
    | Contact Us | Feedback | Copyright Take Down Request | Massey University Privacy Statement
    DSpace software copyright © Duraspace
    v5.7-2020.1-beta1